Colombian Art Exhibit Depicts the Horrors of War

November 3, 2009

It is rare to see unedited and spontaneous portrayals of Colombia’s conflict by the very people who have taken part in the country’s war.

But a thought-provoking art exhibition at Bogotá’s Museum of Modern Art (also known as Mambo) offers a unique and moving insight into Colombia’s armed conflict.

On display are oil paintings produced by 35 men and women who fought for different sides in Colombia’s war. They belonged to different groups, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), and are ex-combatants from right-wing paramilitary groups and members of the country’s armed forces. (Below is a photograph I took at the exhibit, and more of my photos are at the end of this post.)

The paintings depict the horrors of Colombia’s war—hostages tied to trees, massacres, villages being attacked, mass graves, torture, people fleeing, and corpses floating in orangey-red rivers.

The project, the brainchild of Colombian artist Juan Manuel Echavarria, aims to reconstruct and preserve “a historical memory” of a nation at war and raise awareness, as the exhibition’s name (“The war we have not seen”) suggests.

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Colombia's New Defense Minister Takes Over

September 10, 2009

In Colombia, after the President, the second most important political post is the minister of defense.

In late July, a new minister of defense, Gabriel Silva, was chosen following the resignation of Juan Manuel Santos who left the post to become a possible presidential candidate.

At first glance, the former Colombian ambassador to the U.S. (1993), head of the influential National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers and socialite, Silva is not the most obvious choice for a job that traditionally has required a belligerent style.

But Silva is a wise choice to oversee Colombia’s armed forces. And if anyone can improve the battered image of Colombia’s military machine following a string of high-profile and damaging human rights scandals, it is Silva.

During his six-year tenure as head of the country’s important Coffee Growers Federation, Silva was seen as a savior-like figure for turning around the fortunes of Colombia’s some 600,000 coffee growers and promoting the country’s leading export, coffee.

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Vargas Launches his Bid for Colombia's Presidency

July 3, 2009

A new hopeful has joined the presidential race in Colombia. Germán Vargas, 47, the former leader of the center-right Radical Change party last week officially launched his long expected bid to become Colombia’s next president in 2010.

A lawyer, veteran political mover and shaker and former senator, Vargas has stood faithfully by President Álvaro Uribe over the years. He led a successful coalition that helped bring Uribe first to power in 2002, and then backed his reelection. But this time around, Vargas won’t be supporting a possible third Uribe reelection.

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Education is a Key to Reducing Poverty in Colombia

May 7, 2009

Earlier this year, a state-of-the art school founded by the Colombian singer and Grammy winner, Shakira, opened amid much fanfare in her hometown of Barranquilla. Both Colombia’s President Álavro Uribe and Bill Clinton visited the model $6 million school.

The children, many from poor and displaced families, attending the Barefoot Foundation School are the privileged ones. Boasting nutritionists and psychologists on site, sports fields and well-equipped classrooms, the school is the exception, not the norm in Colombia.

The opening of the school should have prompted a much-needed debate about the lack of investment in education and the overall dire state of education in Colombia.  But it didn’t.

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IDB 50th Anniversary Meeting to Showcase Medellín Urban Renewal

March 17, 2009

When 4,000 foreign visitors, top bankers, and member heads of state of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) descend on Medellín next week for the bank's annual meeting and 50th anniversary, they will encounter a city very different to the one it was two decades ago.

Medellín, Colombia’s second city and industrial hub, has transformed in recent years. From a city with the highest murder rate in the world in 1991 (a staggering 381 per 100,000 inhabitants) and once home to the world’s most powerful drug cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, Medellín has now become a leading example of urban regeneration in Latin America and a model for other cities in the region to follow.

Medellín’s makeover started with the then-mayor Sergio Fajardo five years ago. Fajardo, a mathematician and currently a presidential candidate, made a commitment to improve the lives of the city’s poor through a series of bold infrastructure projects and public works programs. He believes architecture is a tool that can bring about social transformation by bridging the gap between rich and poor.Fajardo’s signature idea is that provoking and cutting-edge architecture constructed by renowned architects gives people dignity and fosters respect, community sprit and civic pride. Moreover, architecture can build hope.

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FARC Releases Hostages

February 11, 2009

Colombians were glued to their television sets last week as six hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas were freed in three separate missions. Big TV screens were assembled in Colombia’s main squares, while relatives holding white daisies gathered at local airports to greet those returning from the jungle after more than seven years in captivity. People shed tears as they watched emotional encounters between families finally reunited.

Following the recent hostage releases, there are no politicians being held captive by the FARC today. For many this marks a shift in the FARC’s strategy and a glimmer of hope for possible peace talks between the government and the guerrillas. Since 1999, the FARC has captured senators, ministers and lawmakers and used them as bargaining chips to push for the exchange of hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

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Pyramid Schemes in Colombia

January 6, 2009

In Colombia, everyone seems to know someone who has been affected by the recent collapse of bogus pyramid investment schemes. An estimated 4 million Colombians, from the political elite, members of the armed forces, to small businessmen and the poor invested in pyramid scams. Some have lost their life savings.

The biggest pyramid company, DMG Group Holdings, boosted high-profile investors, including local celebrities and offered its customers too-good-to-be-true interest rates of up to 200 percent. The government eventually closed down DMG in November, sparking widespread protests among investors who looted its offices in a desperate attempt to withdraw their savings. Local mayors, taken by surprise, issued curfews to stem civil unrest.

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